1651]

Breach between Condé and de Retz

615

Le Tellier, Servien, and Lionne, which was reluctantly conceded; but Chavigny at the same time was removed from office. The Parlement intervened (August) to reconcile Condé and the Queen, but to no purpose. In despair she turned to Retz. A new Ministry was formed. Châteauneuf was restored. The seals were given to Matthieu Molé, the intrepid and independent First President of the Parlement; the finances to La Vieuville, as a reward for the services of his friend, the Princess Palatine, who was drawing closer and closer to the Queen. Retz was to have the Cardinal's hat; and Mademoiselle de Chevreuse was to marry the young Mancini. The new alliance had only one bond of unionhatred of Condé, which reconciled for the moment the incompatible interests of Retz, Châteauneuf, and Mazarin. Each party to the treaty had the firm intention of duping the others; and Retz did well to obtain an effective nomination (September 21) and to take his own measures at Rome to hasten the action of the Holy Father, while the unstable coalition lasted.

Secure for the moment of Retz and his friends, the Queen summoned on August 17 a great meeting of Princes, officials, the sovereign Courts, and the municipal authorities of Paris, and laid before them a formal indictment of Condé. Condé and Retz appeared in the Parlement, each supported by an armed force; and on August 21 a fracas occurred, in which Retz narrowly escaped murder at the hands of La Rochefoucauld. The Court seemed to hesitate; immediately before the ceremony of the King's majority (September 7) the charges against Condé were withdrawn, and the banishment of Mazarin was confirmed. But Condé's patience was exhausted; he left Paris on September 6, and, backed by Orleans, demanded that the establishment of the new Ministry should be deferred. When this was refused, he moved southward. On September 15 he was at Montrond, with his sister, Nemours, La Rochefoucauld, and a few other friends; and there they persuaded him to declare for open war. Conti joined him later.

Condé relied upon Bordeaux, where the Parlement and above all the populace were still in open revolt; on the fleet at Brouage and La Rochelle, where Du Daugnon was Governor; on Marsin, who had been replaced in command of the army in Catalonia; on Tavannes, who was at the head of the Condé troops with the army of Picardy; on Stenay, one or two places in Burgundy, and the stronghold of Montrond in the Bourbonnais; on the influence of La Rochefoucauld in Poitou, of Rohan in Anjou, of La Force in Périgord; and above all on Turenne. He seized the public money in the districts where he was master, and levied the tailles. Marsin brought him four regiments from Catalonia; the rest were loyal. Tavannes collected the Condé regiments at Stenay. Orleans controlled a certain number of troops and might be won. But Turenne and his brother refused to fight against the King, now that v there was no longer any Regency; and Condé was driven to make a

616

Rebellion of Condé

[1651-2 disastrous alliance with Spain. In return for the promise of men and money he engaged himself to make no peace in which Spain should not be included. To "faith unfaithful falsely true," he was held in bondage by this treaty; he could in consequence offer no terms which the Court could accept. His Spanish allies supported him when failure seemed imminent and withdrew their aid when complete success appeared possible; they loyally stood out for his complete restitution in 1659; but until peace was signed they used him as an instrument to weaken France; they did not desire to see him in power.

In the south during the winter Condé was steadily forced back by Saint-Luc and Harcourt. The Spanish fleet appeared in the Gironde and occupied Bourg. Negotiations were opened with Cromwell; and an extraordinary scheme for a republican government of France was drawn up under Condé's name. Meanwhile Mazarin had been recalled; and on January 29, 1652, he reached Poitiers with a little army raised in Liége. The news of his return decided Orleans to join the rebels (January 24); but this defection was more than counterbalanced by the arrival at Court of Turenne and Bouillon (February 2); the duchies of Château Thierry and Albret, the counties of Évreux and Auvergne, were the compensation for Sedan, and the price of their adhesion. In February the rebels were driven from Anjou, and Angers fell, in spite of Beaufort, who was commanding Gaston's troops. In March Tavannes joined him with the Condé regiments from the north, and Nemours with a Spanish contingent. But Beaufort was incompetent and quarrelsome; the royal advance continued and the city of Orleans was only saved by the picturesque intervention of Mademoiselle de Montpensier (March 25). In these circumstances Condé, who had been struggling hopelessly in the south, decided to take command on the Loire; he left Agen with a few followers (March 23), and joined his army at Lorris on April 1. A week later he surprised that portion of the royal army which was commanded by Hocquincourt at Bléneau, and drove it in rout, capturing 1500 men. The Court at Gien was in danger but was saved by the skill of Turenne. But, instead of following up his success, Condé repaired to Paris, where he remained for some months; perhaps entangled by the Duchess of Châtillon, but also retained by the necessity of watching Orleans and de Retz.

Turenne reorganised the royal army, defeated the rebel army at Étampes (May 4), and laid siege to that town. To save it, the Spaniards detached the Duke of Lorraine; he crossed France, plundering and burning; but, unwilling to risk the army which was his sole possession, he contented himself with persuading Turenne to raise the siege, and, when threatened by that general, returned to the Netherlands. After his retreat Turenne occupied Saint-Denis with 12,000 men, menacing Condé's army of 6000 at Saint-Cloud. Wishing to reach a safer position at Charenton Condé asked leave to pass through Paris, which was refused;

1652]

Battle of Saint-Antoine

617

and, while making for this point by a detour to the south, he was caught by Turenne at Saint-Antoine and forced to fight with his back to the gate among the houses of the suburb. After a fierce struggle, in which Turenne's forces were roughly handled, artillery came up and Condé's defeat seemed in view, when Mademoiselle de Montpensier extorted from her father permission to unbar the gates and the Bastille opened fire on the royal troops. The remains of Condé's army took refuge in the city (July 2).

A rising had already taken place in Paris on June 25, in which some officers of the Parlement suffered violence. On July 4 the mob attacked the Hôtel de Ville, whither an assembly representative of all the interests of Paris had been called; some thirty of the deputies were killed or wounded and the Town Hall was burnt. The enemies of Condé alleged that he had instigated this outrage in order to force the city to join his cause. Amid growing dissatisfaction, on July 20, a provisional Government was established by authority of the Parlement, with Orleans as Lieutenant-Governor, Condé as Commander-in-Chief, Beaufort as Governor of Paris, and Broussel as Provost of the Merchants. But this was the last effort of the Fronde. Money could not be raised. The army was melting. Disunion prevailed. Beaufort killed Nemours in a duel. On August 6, by royal decree, the Parlement was transferred to Pontoise, and the rival assembly there established steadily grew in authority and numbers. To facilitate an accommodation, Mazarin once more withdrew from France (August 19) and a general amnesty was offered.

On August 9 Vendôme had defeated Du Daugnon and the Spanish fleet off Ré. Montrond capitulated early in September. The agents of Mazarin stimulated the Parisian populace against the Fronde, which was becoming more and more unpopular. The Spanish Government determined to make one more effort to support the faction; and early in September the Duke of Lorraine and Ulric of Württemberg, with 8000 men, set forth for Paris. Turenne met them at Villeneuve-Saint-Georges and held them in check all through September. Retz and Châteauneuf opened abortive negotiations with the Court; even Chavigny was willing to abandon Condé, but, crushed by his master's wrath on hearing of his treachery, he fell ill and died (October, 1652). Towards the end of September the change of feeling in the capital became unmistakable; Broussel resigned; and the King was invited to come to Paris. The supply of provisions to the Duke of Lorraine was stopped. He was forced to retire, and Condé followed him. Beaufort resigned, and Gaston announced his intention of retiring to Blois. On October 21 the King entered Paris, and the Government was reëstablished. Beaufort, Châteauneuf, Rohan, Fontrailles, with ten councillors of the Parlement, and the Duchesses of Châtillon and Montbazon, were exiled; and an edict was registered forbidding the Parlement to concern itself with

618

Return of Louis and Mazarin

[1649-54 questions of State, administration, or finance. Orleans retired to Blois and ordered his troops to withdraw from Condé's army. Retz was offered a mission to Rome; on his refusal he was arrested (December 19). He escaped in 1654, and went to Rome, where for a time the Pope supported him against Mazarin, who wished him to resign his claims to the archbishopric of Paris. Later, he was forced to leave Rome and became a wanderer. He resigned his see in 1662, and was permitted to live in France, but took no further part in affairs.

Mazarin's return was delayed by the necessity of resisting Condé in Champagne, where he had firmly established himself. After recovering Château Porcien and some less important places, the Cardinal left Rethel and Sainte-Menehould in the hands of the enemy, and in February, 1653, returned to Paris, where he resumed all and more than all of his former power. Of his enemies and rivals, Condé was a proclaimed traitor and commander-in-chief of the forces of Spain, Retz a prisoner, Bouillon, Chavigny, and La Vieuville dead; Châteauneuf died in this year. The Parlement was humbled. Turenne was the King's servant, and the King identified Mazarin's authority with his own. Only a few outlying troubles remained to be remedied. Bordeaux, where Conti and Madame de Longueville had ruled by the aid of a violent faction, called the Ormée, had to be reduced to obedience. Harcourt, as Governor of Elsass, had taken advantage of the disorder to seize Breisach for himself and made overtures to Spain and Lorraine. Du Daugnon still held Brouage, and one or two other leaders were in possession of governments which they could not be permitted to retain. Mercœur, the new Governor of Provence, needed aid to establish his authority against the Comte d'Alais, now Duke of Angoulême, who had joined the party of Condé. Épernon, who had been assigned to Burgundy in place of Condé, had to reduce Dijon and Bellegarde. Bordeaux made terms on July 31, 1653. Conti received his pardon; Madame de Longueville returned to her husband and after his death entered a Carmelite convent; the Princess of Condé followed the Prince to Flanders; Marsin took refuge in Spain. Guienne was restored to the Duke of Épernon. When Harcourt came to terms and surrendered Breisach (March, 1654) the Fronde was ended.

During the troubles France had steadily lost ground in Italy and the Netherlands. In 1649 Ypres was taken by the Spaniards, and Modena made peace; in the following year Piombino and Porto-Longone fell. In 1651 Barcelona was captured, and on the Flemish frontier Furnes and Bergues-Saint-Vinox. In 1652 France was forced to abandon Gravelines, Mardyk, and Dunkirk, while Casale surrendered and was assigned to the Duke of Mantua as the price of his adhesion to Spain. From 1653 onwards the tide turned, slowly at first, afterwards more rapidly. The campaigns in which the genius of Condé was matched

1653-8] End of the war between Spain and France

619

against the high ability of Turenne are full of interest to the military historian, but only the general results can be indicated here. Turenne had the advantage of the ungrudging support of his Government and that of undivided authority; and, though France was seriously embarrassed, her resources were yet superior to those of Spain. Condé on the other hand was hampered by the jealousy of his colleagues, and sometimes by the timidity of a superior. Moreover, owing to the clause in his treaty which gave him the sovereignty of any conquests he might make on the soil of France, the Spanish Government stood to lose by any reverse and not to gain by his success. Hence, in spite of some brilliant strokes, the

fortune of war was on the whole adverse to him and his allies.

In 1653-4 he was driven from Rethel and Sainte-Menehould in Champagne and from Stenay and Clermont in Lorraine, and, defeated before Arras, had the poor consolation of making a skilful retreat. Mazarin's intrigues with Lorraine led the Spanish Government to arrest Duke Charles (February, 1654); and his troops took service under the King of France in the following year. In 1655 Landrecies and other places were taken by the French, and treasonable intentions of Hocquincourt to surrender Peronne and Ham were discovered and frustrated. In 1656 negotiations for peace were opened, but the Spanish demands on behalf of Condé proved an invincible obstacle; Turenne's defeat before Valenciennes (July 16, 1656) stiffened the resolution of Spain; and Mazarin broke off the discussion. Further successes were needed before he could obtain such terms as he desired. The Cardinal had already more than once approached Cromwell with a view to joint action against Spain; he recognised the Commonwealth in 1652; the peace of April, 1654, between the English and the Dutch seemed to offer hopes; but the Vaudois and other misunderstandings ensued, and the Treaty of Westminster (October 24, 1655), which established friendly relations between England and France, and led to the expulsion of Charles II and the Duke of York from French dominions, was only a step in the right direction. At length in March, 1657, by the Treaty of Paris, it was agreed that the two Governments should together undertake the conquest of Mardyk, Dunkirk, and Gravelines. Operations began in May, and Mardyk fell in September. The French arms, however, suffered a reverse before Cambrai (May 30); and it was not till 1658 that the allies got effectively to work. Dunkirk was invested (May); Don Juan of Austria and Condé were defeated at the battle of the Dunes by Turenne, whose force included 6000 English (June 14); the city surrendered a fortnight later and, with Mardyk, was handed over to England as agreed. Bergues-Saint-Vinox, Dixmuyden, and Furnes were then recovered in rapid succession. On July 29 Gravelines was invested, and a month later it surrendered. The conquests of Oudenarde, Menin, and Ypres followed. In the same year Mazarin had succeeded in extorting from the new Emperor, Leopold, before his election, a promise to cease his clandestine